Flash Flood — Los Alamos, New Mexico

2012-07-11 · near Los Alamos, Los Alamos, New Mexico

Event narrative

Mud, logs and large rocks washed onto State Road 501 (West Jemez Rd.) near State Road 4, as well as in Los Alamos Canyon and along Camp May road. Heavy equipment and road graders were needed to clear the debris.

Wider weather episode

An upper level high pressure system shifted westward centering over portions of Utah and western Colorado. With sufficient moisture as well as instability, storms initially developed over northern portions of the state during the afternoon hours. These storms increased in coverage into the early evening with general storm motions toward the west and southwest. The thunderstorms, though not severe, did produce significant amounts of rainfall in very short time durations. This led to flooding of the Las Conchas Fire burn scar as the storms moved from north to south covering the entire burn scar.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.8785, -106.3501)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 382706. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.